The latest news on the COVID-19 global pandemic (all times Eastern):
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6 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting that seven of its eight new COVID-19 cases are in the province’s far north.
Premier Scott Moe announced Friday that non-critical travel to the province’s north was being restricted as the region deals with an outbreak in the remote community of La Loche, about 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
On Friday, Moe said the far north had 25 active cases — more than anywhere else in the province.
In total, there were 349 cases in Saskatchewan Saturday, and four people have died.
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4:45 p.m.
British Columbia is reporting its first death related to COVID-19 in a First Nations community.
The province is also reporting 95 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed to 1,948.
B.C. saw two COVID-19 related deaths, bringing the number up to 100.
So far, 1,137 people have recovered from the virus.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says there are no new outbreaks at long-term care facilities.
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1:50 p.m.
Quebec is recording another 106 deaths related to COVID-19 for a total of 1,446.
The province said today it has confirmed another 651 cases of the virus, bringing the total number of such cases to 23,267.
Forty-nine additional people were hospitalized compared with the prior day, for a total of 1,509 patients.
The province has 217 people remain in intensive care, a reduction of 10 patients compared to yesterday.
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1:40 p.m.
British Columbia is looking to temporarily relocate over 1,000 people from tent encampments in Vancouver and Victoria to hotel and community centre accommodations to protect them from the ongoing pandemic.
Shane Simpson, Social Development and Poverty Reduction Minister, says 686 hotel and community centre accommodations in Vancouver and 324 hotel spaces in Victoria have been secured by the province.
Simpson says people will have their own living space and access to services, such as meals, laundry, washroom facilities, health-care services, addictions treatment and harm reduction, storage for personal belongings and other supports.
Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, has supported this transition by an order under the Emergency Program Act.
The order sets May 9 as the deadline to transition people out of the encampments.
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1:15 p.m.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says front-line workers, including people working at shelters and long-term care homes, will receive a raise of $4 per hour for the next four months as they help in the fight against COVID-19.
Ford says eligible workers will also receive an extra payment of $250 per month if they work more than 100 hours in a month.
The provincial government says 350,000 workers will be eligible for the pay premium.
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1:10 p.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting six more deaths related to COVID-19, bringing the total to 22.
Five deaths occurred at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax Regional Municipality, while a man in his 80s with underlying medical conditions died in the Western Zone of the province. He was not a resident of a long-term care home.
The province is reporting 15 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the provincial total to 865 confirmed cases.
There are 10 licensed long-term care homes and unlicensed seniors’ facilities in Nova Scotia with cases of COVID-19, involving 191 residents and 90 staff.
A total of 412 cases are considered recovered.
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12:55 p.m.
Public Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting no new cases of COVID-19 today, marking one week since there was a positive case.
The province has 118 confirmed cases and 11 active cases.
To date, 107 people have recovered.
Four people remain hospitalized, and there are no patients in an intensive care unit.
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12:45 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador is reporting one new confirmed case of COVID-19, raising the provincial total to 257 cases.
Fifty-two per cent of cases are female and 48 per cent are male.
There have been three deaths from COVID-19 so far in the province.
Five people are in hospital due to the virus. Of these patients, two are in intensive care.
The province says 208 people have recovered.
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11 a.m.
The Ontario government says provincial parks and conservation areas will remain closed until May 31 to protect public safety.
The closures, because of COVID-19, affect car camping, backcountry camping, roofed accommodations, day use, access points and all public buildings.
All Ontario park reservations are cancelled automatically during the closures and there will be refunds for all reservation holders.
The province will also provide penalty-free refunds to reservation holders who wish to change or cancel their 2020 camping reservation, regardless of arrival date.
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10:40 a.m.
Ontario reported 476 new cases of COVID-19 today, as well as 48 more deaths.
There are now a total of 13,995 confirmed cases of the virus in the province and a death toll of 811.
There are 245 COVID-19 patients in intensive care, most of whom are on ventilators.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
